In order to provide a secure and well protected support environment for the many delicate and sensitive components of electronic equipment, manufacturers and users typically house such components in a heavy duty steel cabinet or rack which, when fully loaded with instruments, signal processing units, power supplies, etc. can be expected to weigh in the neighborhood of two thousand pounds. This combination of weight and need for careful handling has made movement of such equipment a "back-straining" task for workers whose responsibility is the packing, transport and installation of heavy duty appliances and systems. In particular, in its manufactured (completed assembly) and installed configuration, an equipment rack is (floor) supported in a vertical, or upright, position. For transport, however, the rack must be carefully rotated or pivoted to a horizontal position (placed on its back). Because the location whereat the rack must be pivotally manipulated is typically within the interior of a building and is commonly a confined space, as well as the fact that the handling of the equipment requires considerably delicacy, the task has been labor intensive and has often resulted in back injuries to handling and transport personnel. Racks have been accidently dropped and several damaged using hand method and other sling or chain-ball arrangements.
My prior adjustable equipment rack carrier disclosed in the above-referenced U.S. Pat. No. 4,963,070 required the carrier to be manually rolled to the desired area by pushing on a U-shaped handle. I have found, however, that the manual rolling requires an unnecessary and undesirable exertion of force by the operator, particularly where the weight of the rack is not evenly distributed along the carrier or the carrier must traverse an incline or travel a long distance.